The 8th Horcrux
The 8th Horcrux The Love Inns wizard rock band from Ottawa, Kansas. The group specializes in parodies of familiar songs, adding a Harry Potter twist. In 2009, the band released their debut album, [[Potterwatch!|''Potterwatch!]], selling all copies in less than three weeks. In late 2010, the band released ''Accio Awesome to similar critical and commercial success. The band released 100 copies of their third album, Noize From the Cupboard in the summer of 2011. Recently, the band's fifth album Fantastic Beats & Where to Hear Them, was released in the summer of 2016. Critically, the band has been a success, receiving praise from the students of Ottawa High School, various Kansas libraries, local newspapers, radio stations, websites, and wizard rock reviewers. To date, the band has released four full-length albums, five EPs, one live album, one compilation album, and thirteen singles which have been played on various radio formats. History Origins The 8th Horcrux, or, more specifically, the album Potterwatch!, began after Thomas happened to stumble upon the genre of 'Wizard Rock.' Inspired by this new found music style, and the then-recent Harry Potter movie, Thomas, and fellow friend and musician, Trina Sieg, began working on a wrock-themed album slated to be released by Thomas' older (and now defunct) band Famosiz. The idea of releasing the album under the Famosiz name was soon dropped, and the two took a new name. Dubbing themselves “The 8th Horcrux,” they became a parody band, much in the vein of “Weird Al” Yankovic, which devoted the entirety of its content to anything relating to the Harry Potter series. ''Potterwatch!' (2009) The band immediately got to work planning. After a few months of writing and recording, the band whittled their ideas to several key parodies of hit songs by The Lonely Island, Flobots, Meredith Brooks, My Chemical Romance, The Beatles, blink-182, Bowling for Soup, Alien Ant Farm, The Who, Green Day. In the final stages of recording, the Green Day parody ("The Chosen One" a parody of "Know Your Enemy") and the blink-182 parody ("The Yule Ball" a parody of "The Rock Show") were shelved for the bands sophomore album. Several other parodies were added, including a Gym Class Heroes parody and a Bloodhound Gang parody. On October 22, the band released their debut album, ''Potterwatch! The album was a surprise hit. The band had pressed 100 copies, and within three weeks, almost every copy was sold. The band received praise from many of the students of Ottawa High School and was even featured in the schools newspaper.Shannon, Jack. "The 8th Horcrux" The Review. 3 Nov. 2009. Retrieved 28 June 2011. ''Accio Awesome'' (2010) In December of 2009, the band began working on their second album, titled Accio Awesome. Information leaked in August 2010 stated that the album would feature 15 song parodies, including the missing Green Day and blink-182 parodies and a re-recording of the older "1985" Bowling for Soup parody. On August 28th, the band released two songs, "In the Pensieve" and the new version of "Privet Drive" on their Myspace. In October, the band confirmed that the album would be available for purchase via the internet. The album was released on November 3, 2010, selling dozens of copies on the first day of release. To promote the album, the band held a series of events, including a show at the local library. Eventually, the band was featured in Ottawa's newspaper.Ottawa Herald Staff. "Parody performance" OttawaHerald.com. 16 Nov. 2010. Retrieved 17 Nov. 2010.Ottawa Herald Staff. "Things To Do, Nov. 13-Nov. 15" OttawaHerald.com. 13 Nov. 2010. Retrieved 17 Nov. 2010. In late November, the band released their entire discography onto Bandcamp and they also made their newest album available via PayPal until it sold out. Summer Tour and Noize From the Cupboard (2011) On March 11, the band co-headlined the Trifecta of Awesome tour in Ottawa. Later that month, the band participated in the Ottawa Spring Fling Battle of the Bands and finished in 5th Place. On April 16, The 8th Horcrux released two EPs, I Love Hogwarts and We R Death EateRs, for free to celebrate Record Store Day. The former were tangibly available at Kief's Records and the Love Garden (both in Lawrence, KS) and the latter was available on Bandcamp. In the spring of 2011, the band once again regrouped to record their third album, titled Noize From the Cupboard. The album was released on the first of July. Noize From the Cupboard was released on Bandcamp and could be purchased physically through PayPal. The band also announced a summer tour, referred to as the "Mini-Summer Tour Extravaganza" on the band's Facebook page, which hit various libraries and bookstores across Kansas.The 8th Horcrux. "The 8th Horcrux's Reverb Page" ReverbNation.com. 1 Feb. 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011. During this time, the band was also nominated for Best Album (2010's Accio Awesome) and Best Female Vocals in the preliminary rounds for the wizard rock award show the Wizzies.Holden, Brett. "The Wizzies" Facebook.com. 22 May 2011. Retrieved 24 Sept. 2011. However, the band did not make it any further than the preliminary round. On July 28, the band participated in the Louisburg Battle of the Bands and came in at First Place. In celebration of over 300 Facebook likes on the band's page, the band released the Pottermost! EP for free on their Bandcamp in August. On September 18, the band revealed that it was working on a live album recorded during the "Mini-Summer Tour Extravaganza." The album was released on September 26, the day of Paul's birthday.Thomas, Paul. "Live Album" Facebook.com. 18 Sept. 2011. Retrieved 24 Sept. 2011. ''Ridiculously Wicked'' (2012—2014) In early January, the band began releasing singles from their soon-to-be-released fourth album, scheduled to be released in July of 2012. The first single, "If You Wanna Rock at Quidditch," was released on January 13, and the second single was "Crabbe and Goyle," released on January 28. On April 21, the band released a free EP, titled Happy Record Store Day, which included "If You Wanna Rock at Quidditch" and "Crabble and Goyle", as well as a demo of their song "Kreacher". On June 17, the band announced that the tentative name for their new album would be Ridiculously Wicked. The original name for the album was slated to be Riddikulusly Wicked, but the band changed their minds, realizing that "Riddikulus" was difficult to spell, and by proxy, difficult for fans to locate on the internet. The album was released on July 1. A music for the song "The Lavatory Song" on July 3. The video, as of October 2012, has reached over 25,000 hits on YouTube. In late 2012, an interview with the band was featured in the book Harry Potter: Still Recruiting by Valerie Estelle Frankel, which critically examines the Harry Potter fandom. The band released a free EP, Happy Record Store Day 2013, on April 20, 2013 in celebration of Record Store Day. To garner money to fund of a new compilation album, titled Greatest Hits, The 8th Horcrux created an Indiegogo account to raise money. The goal of the fundraiser was 500 dollars; over 200 dollars was successfully raised, which was the money needed to press-up the albums. Every contribution was linked with a specific prize. The album was released on July 20, 2013. ''Fantastic Beats & Where to Hear Them'' (2015-present) Near the start of 2015, the band released a statement on their Facebook page that they would be releasing four new parodies, one every other day starting on January 19. These songs would comprise their release [[Finite Incantatem!|''Finite Incantatem!]]. These songs (minus their re-recording of "Ron's Woeful Christmas (The Sweater Song)") would later appear on their fifth studio album, entitled ''Fantastic Beats & Where to Hear Them. This record was released in the summer of 2016. Near the end of 2016, the band released The Chamber of Secret Tracks, a compilation of songs that just missed the cut for inclusion on the band's 2013 greatest hits album. In the fall of 2017, the band released the singles "These Beasts Are Fantastic!" and "(Newt's Chasing) The Niffler" via their Bandcamp. Later, in 2018, the band contributed backing vocals to fellow wrock band Tonks and the Aurors's album HUFFLERIOT.Anderson, Steph. "HUFFLERIOT CD" Retrieved June 21, 2018. Information is on the image of the CD insert. Critical reception Critical reception the The 8th Horcrux has been largely positive. After the release of Potterwatch! and Accio Awesome onto Bandcamp, Wrock Snob, noted wizard rock reviewer, described The 8th Horcrux's music as "very competent parodies."Snob, Wrock. "Wrock Snob's November Twitter Feed" Twitter.com. 25 Nov. 2010. Retrieved 28 June 2011. After the release of the band's third album, Noize From the Cupboard, several local papers helped promote the band, including the Ottawa-based Ottawa Herald and the St. Jospeh newspaper News-Press.Newton, Allysha D. (14 July 2011). "'Potter' Fans Prepare for the End". The Ottawa Herald (Ottawa, KS).Conner, Shea. (July 2011). A rock show for Harry Potter fans. News-PressNow.com (St. Joseph, KS). In addition, Wizarding Life Magazine, an online wizarding-magazine, later described the band as "wrock-parody-makers extraordinaire" in an article about Noize from the Cupboard.Courtney. "The 8th Horcrux: New Album for Pre-order" Wizarding Life. 17 June 2011. Retrieved 28 June 2011. College radio station KWCW 90.5 FM was "delighted" to discover the band and described the band's music as "damn good."Rasmussen, Sara (7 Jan. 2012). "MORE Wrock Wrenditions!". Tumblr.com. Australian music website Tone Deaf also named the group as one of "the best bands of wizard rock".Nicholas, Jones (July 27, 2011) The Best Bands of Wizard Rock Tone Deaf. Retreive May 10, 2018. Discography Studio Albums *2009 – Potterwatch! *2010 – Accio Awesome *2011 – Noize From the Cupboard *2012 – Ridiculously Wicked *2016 – Fantastic Beats & Where to Hear Them Live Albums *2011 – The 8th Horcrux Live EPs *2011 – I Love Hogwarts EP *2011 – We R Death EateRs EP *2011 – Pottermost! EP *2012 – Happy Record Store Day EP *2013 – Happy Record Store Day 2013 EP *2015 – ''Finite Incantatem! EP'' Compilation Albums *2011 – Expecto Patrohmygoodness *2013 – Greatest Hits *2016 – The Chamber of Secret Tracks Compilation Appearances *"(Ginny's) Love Story)" – Love Letters From Hogwarts (Feb. 2011) *"Priori Incanatatem" – This Album is Not a Horcrux (July 2011) *"Romilda" – Wrock Hard Ditties (Sept. 2011) *"A Werewolf is Fine for Tonks" – 2016 Wizard Rock Sampler (Sept. 2016) *"These Beasts Are Fantastic" – 2017 Wizard Rock Sampler (Sept. 2017) Associated Bands Paul Thomas was the former frontman for Famosiz before the band disbanded in 2011. In addition, Paul and Trina record other non-Harry Potter related music on the moniker "Paul and Trina." Their limited records can be downloaded from The 8th Horcrux's Bandcamp page. Currently, the band has recorded a cover of Sweet Diss and the Comebacks' cult hit "Dunder and Dwightning" about The Office, they have written and recorded parodies of "Tonight, Tonight" by Hot Chelle Rae and "Good Time" by Owl City" about Doctor Who, and they have recorded a parody of "Sk8er Boi" by Avril Lavigne about Buffy the Vampire Slayer. The side group currently has several song parodies scheduled for recording, including an ode to Lost and several Star Wars parodies. References External links *The 8th Horcrux on Bandcamp *The 8th Horcrux on Facebook Category:Americans Category:Rock Artists Category:Comedy Category:The 8th Horcrux Category:Wizard Rock